As usual NFL betting enthusiasts, I’ve got to tell it like it is – and from where I’m sitting, I say it’s time for the Minnesota Vikings to begin the process of looking at their future without Brett Favre – and I do mean immediately.

That’s right pro football betting buffs, I genuinely feel like the Vikings need to start backup quarterback Tavaris Jackson for the remainder of the 2010 regular season whether Favre is healthy or not as this season is likely already lost after the team’s uninspiring 2-4 start.

Besides, Favre is playing in his final NFL campaign and won’t be around for the Vikings in the near future. Now, let me get on to some sobering realities for the Vikings, their betting backers and Brett Favre fans everywhere.

Minnesota Vikings (2-4 SU, 2-4 ATS, 3-3 O/U)

(2-1 home, 0-3 away)

Favre is ranked a woeful 30th in passer rating (68.0) while simultaneously leading the league in interceptions (10).

The veteran quarterback may be headed for the Hall of Fame, but he’s not going out like the winner many thought he would. Favre is tied for seventh in sacks absorbed (14) while ranking just 25th in completion percentage (58.1) and 21st in passing yards (1,191).

You know things are bad when mediocre quarterbacks Alex Smith and Chad Henne, along with rookie signal-caller Sam Bradford, have all thrown for more yards while posting higher completion percentages than Favre, whose longest pass completion of the season has been just 37 yards.

Mix in Favre’s poor on-field play with the fact that he’s in the midst of an ongoing NFL probe into his alleged attempts at a sexual dalliance with former Jets employee Jenn Sterger and it’s easy to see why I’ve come to the conclusion that the Vikes should bench Favre for the remainder of the season.

Of course, since the Vikings are still holding onto their faint playoff hopes – while paying Favre a boatload of money – and I suspect that it’s going to take a total meltdown for head coach Brad Childress to get up the nerve to bench the ineffective Favre, who is clearly running on fumes at this point of his 20-year NFL career.

Favre has thrown at least one interception in five of Minnesota’s six games this season while tossing three picks in a single game twice this season and two interceptions in another contest.

After his Week 7 performance, Childress was critical of Favre for the first time ever.

“You can’t throw it to them, you’ve got to play within the confines of our system,” Childress said of Favre following Minnesota’s 2824 loss to Green Bay. “Sometimes it’s OK to punt the football. You can’t give seven points going the other way, not in a game like this.”

Maybe it’s me, but I say the future starts for the Minnesota Vikings right now – and that future doesn’t include Brett Favre.

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